


The Balm of Sisterly Consolation

by Ellana17



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry is just trying to set things right, Earth-2, Gen, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8956306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellana17/pseuds/Ellana17
Summary: “Laurel,” Oliver whispered. “She was working for Zoom?” he asked quietly without taking his eyes off the monitor.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I might be slightly obsessed with parallel universes. I loved Black Siren in that episode of Flash and I think it’s a shame she’s just rotting in a cell right now. I wanted to get this idea out of my head while we wait for an actual explanation of the midseason finale.  
> The title is a quote from Pride and Prejudice.
> 
> This takes place right after Invasion, assuming that Barry and Oliver have been each other's love interest from the start.

After a few more beers and a few tequila shots, Barry realized that he might finally have met his match in terms of drinking. Barry also realized he felt slightly buzzed and that had nothing to do with the alcohol. Barry felt oddly calm and relaxed around Oliver these days. That had not always been the case, he reflected. When the young CSI had first met Oliver Queen – CEO of a major company – they had started off on the wrong foot, to say the least. Something had changed between them after Barry had saved Oliver’s life though. Well, Barry had to admit Oliver had still been kind of a jerk to him even after – especially after – the young man had discovered Oliver’s secret. Barry had called Oliver after becoming a metahuman and their relationship had evolved over time to become the strong friendship they had now. The two men trusted each other and always had each other’s back. Oliver had even died once in order to save Barry. Barry tried not to think about that particular nightmare inducing memory too often.

“Ollie, look,” he said suddenly as they made their way out of the bar. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Oliver stopped and turned to him as the Speedster ran a hand through his hair nervously. Barry cleared his throat awkwardly, not sure of the words that would leave his mouth up to the moment they actually did. “Actually, I’d better show you.”

He grabbed Oliver before the other man could say anything and ran them all the way to S.T.A.R. Labs.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” Oliver said once they reached the Cortex. “Barry, why are we here?” Oliver asked calmly.

“Here’s the thing,” Barry started. “You know I had a few run-ins with some people from Earth-2 recently.”

“People Zoom had sent to kill you,” Oliver stated.

Barry nodded. “And you know that I’ve met Cisco’s and Caitlin’s doppelgangers and that they worked for Zoom as well.” Oliver nodded slowly. Barry could clearly see the man was waiting for Barry to cut to the chase but Barry needed time to gather his thoughts.

“Barry, why are you telling me this?”

“I need you to understand why I didn’t say anything before today. I didn’t know what to do because she isn’t _her_ but I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and I can’t keep lying to you.” Barry took a deep breath. “We captured one of Zoom’s henchmen, a metahuman with a sonic cry.”

“Who is it, Barry?” Oliver asked. Judging by how pale the man suddenly looked, there was a pretty good chance Oliver had already guessed what Barry had been trying to say.

Barry pressed a few keys and Black Siren’s cell appeared on the computer screen. The brunette was pacing around her cell, as she often did.

“Laurel,” Oliver whispered. “She was working for Zoom?” he asked quietly without taking his eyes off the monitor.

“Yeah. She actually tried to kill me; we had no other choice but to lock her up,” Barry explained.

“Why are you telling me about this now?” Oliver asked, glancing at Barry.

“I’m trying to make up for the things I’ve done. No, let me finish,” Barry said as Oliver seemed ready to cut him short. “She wouldn’t even be here on this Earth if Zoom hadn’t sent her after me. She can’t stay locked up in this cell forever but I can’t let her go back. She’s too dangerous on her own. So, I thought you could help her,” he concluded.

“Help her?” Oliver parroted, confused.

“If I send her back, she’ll go straight back to a life of crime but if she stays here with you and Sara, she might come around. You two know a lot about getting a second chance at life.”

“No.”

“Ollie, look-”

“I said no, Barry,” Oliver said forcefully. “You want me to talk to Sara about her, don’t you? Because you’re too much of a coward to do it yourself.”

Barry did not rise to the bait. “I thought it would be better if it came from a friend, someone who knew Laurel as well as she did. The three of you… you go way back.”

“You’re serious about this,” Oliver noted. “Do you really think letting her out is a good idea?” he exclaimed. “Judging from what you’ve just told me, she belongs in a cell.”

“If you could simply reach out to her maybe-”

“I can’t put Sara through this. I won’t! Do you have any idea how hard it is to see her alive knowing that she’s not the woman I used to know?”

“Actually, I know exactly how hard that it,” Barry countered, thinking of Jay Garrick. “I’m asking you to think about it. Can you do that?”

“Forget about the world,” Oliver mumbled. “I don’t think I can take more of our get-togethers,” Oliver said quietly as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Oliver-”

“I just…” Oliver trailed off, withdrawing from the room.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m getting back to Star City.”

“You left your bike at the bar,” Barry reminded him. “I ran us here.”

“I’ll walk there, then,” Oliver countered. “I need to clear my head.”

“Ollie, come on, don’t be ridiculous.”

Oliver left the room despite Barry’s protests. The Speedster stayed silent as he watched Oliver walk away.

ooo

Sara had given Oliver a communication device before she went away this time, in case he ever needed to reach out to her; which he did, in the end. It took Oliver a few days to think it over but he finally realized that he could not keep that secret from Sara. They arranged a meeting at Oliver’s place a few days later and Oliver watched all color drained from Sara’s face as he spoke.

“You’re saying she’s been locked up in a cell in S.T.A.R. Labs all this time and your boyfriend is only telling us about this now?” she exclaimed.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Oliver felt the urge to say.

Sara simply rolled her eyes at him as she usually did when calling him out on his bullshit. “He is,” she stated. “But that’s really not the point here. Why now?” she asked.

“Guilt,” Oliver supplied.

“He didn’t seem that bothered when we teamed up last week,” she pointed out. “He could have told me then but he didn’t.”

“You of all people should understand we sometimes need to lie in order to protect the people we care about.”

“I’m not the one he was trying to protect,” Sara noted with a pointed look at Oliver. “Ollie, I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“You said you’d give anything to have your sister back.”

“She’s not,” Sara said, fighting back tears. “She’s not my sister. I can’t, Ollie. I can’t go see her only to realize how different she is from the Laurel I knew.”

“She would have done it for you,” Oliver said gently. Sara looked up. “Laurel didn’t give up on the idea of bringing you back and she didn’t give up on you after you came back. You weren’t yourself then but she didn’t give up because she loved you.”

“I know that, Ollie.”

“She’s always been there for us. If think we owe her that at least.”

ooo

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Oliver Queen,” Black Siren exclaimed with a flourish as Oliver and Sara stood in front of her cell.

It had taken a little more convincing but Sara had finally agreed to a meeting. Cisco had managed to build a speaker that could filter any high frequency. To be frank, Oliver had not understood much of Cisco’s explanation but the important thing was that Black Siren would not be able to use her abilities on them. Cisco, Caitlin and Barry were currently monitoring the meeting from the Cortex.

“And who are you?” Black Siren asked, glaring at Sara.

Sara’s eyes went wide for a second before she got her emotions under control. “I’m your sister. Sara.”

“I don’t have a sister,” the other woman dismissed. “I did have a brother once,” she said casually. “But then Oliver here cheated on me with him and they both died on that damn boat.”

Sara and Oliver glanced briefly at each other.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Black Siren exclaimed, looking at them. “I can’t believe you,” she went on. “Whatever the universe, you always manage to ruin my life, don’t you?”

“Laurel-”

“That’s not my name,” the brunette said sharply. “What are you doing here anyway? I don’t suppose you’re going to let me out of this cell. That’s too bad.”

“We’re here to help you,” Sara told her.

“You can help me by letting me out.”

“We can’t do that,” Oliver said calmly.

Black Siren stared at him. “What happened to you? You seem different.” She glanced at them both. “Then again, I guess you’re not so different after all.”

“We’re just trying to help you,” Sara said again.

“You can’t help me,” the woman said. “Now get out.”

“Laurel-”

“I said get out!” she yelled, hitting the glass door with her fists.

Oliver and Sara took a step back as the door of the pipeline closed.

“Ollie,” Sara called in a weak voice. Still shaken up from the meeting himself, Oliver turned to Sara and noticed the tears running down her checks. He opened his arms and held her as she cried the loss of her sister once more.

ooo

“So, I really need to ask this,” Cisco said after a moment. He winced as Caitlin slapped his arm.

“Now’s not the time,” she informed him.

“What is it?” Oliver asked.

“Is it an Earth-2 thing? You being queer, I mean.”

Oliver glared at him. “That’s really none of your business, Cisco,” Oliver replied.

“Come on, man. I’m compiling data about all the other universes we come across. My interest is purely scientific.”

“Cisco-”

“For science.”

“It’s not an Earth-2 thing,” Sara piped up from across the room where she was drinking the chamomile tea Caitlin had made her. The blonde had not said a word since their rough encounter with Black Siren. “It’s just an Oliver thing.”

“I have to say I did not see that one coming,” Cisco said, pointing at Oliver. “But that’s okay, man, good for you.”

“I’m glad you approve,” Oliver said sardonically.

“We should probably head back,” Sara suggested after a bit.

“So soon?” Caitlin asked.

“You guys should give her another chance,” Barry said.

“I need to get some things from my dad’s place first,” Sara explained. “I’m not giving up.”

ooo

In the following days, Oliver and Sara spent most of their time at S.T.A.R. Labs. Sara had found some old pictures of the Lance family at her dad’s house and spent hours sitting in front of Dinah Lance’s cell, talking about their respective lives. Sara talked at length about the League of Assassins and Dinah told her all about how she came to work for Zoom. Sara still felt wary of the other woman and did not want to get her hopes up. She was simply too afraid of losing another sister. Dinah was clearly avoiding the subject of her own brother and Sara could not blame her. She hoped that in time, Dinah Lance would come to trust her enough to open up. The two women were slowly building a true friendship and Black Siren had finally accepted Sara’s suggestion about joining the crew of the Waverider.

Barry had his eyes set on the monitor. “You’re okay?” he asked Oliver when he caught sight of the man’s frown.

“Huh?” Oliver turned away from the screen. “I’m fine.”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Barry pointed out.

“I was just thinking about what Dinah said about the boat.”

“You can’t let the death of your doppelganger affect you, Oliver,” Barry told him.

“That’s not what’s bothering me,” Oliver explained. “I can’t believe I cheated on Laurel with both her siblings,” he finally said.

“Oh. Strictly speaking you didn’t. Well, you did cheat on her, but only with Sara.”

“That’s not helping,” Oliver pointed out, smiling nonetheless.

Barry smiled apologetically. “Yeah, I guess not. Sorry. And huh, I’m sorry about Cisco too.”

Oliver shrugged. “It’s okay. I hadn’t really thought about this in a long time,” Oliver admitted. “I guess it’s a part of me I’ve left behind as well. It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. “I’ve learnt that this life doesn’t leave much room for relationships.”

“That’s bullshit,” Barry declared. “I know you think you don’t deserve to be happy but you do, Oliver, more than anyone. And I’ll be there,” Barry said after a bit, getting up from his chair. “When you finally decide to pull your head out of your ass, I’ll be there, waiting.”

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> I just needed an excuse to write about bisexual Earth-2 Oliver.  
> I've been reading too much into these characters but I love the distinction that is made between Ollie (before the island) and Oliver (after the island). Barry has been calling him Ollie even when they are wearing their suits and I think that helps bring back together these two sides of Oliver.


End file.
